The invention is directed to a system and appertaining method for minimizing a bowing of collector plates in an electrostatic precipitator utilizing a clip configuration that permits movement of the collector plate.
In an electrostatic precipitator, discharge electrodes and collector plates are disposed in a flue in which particle-containing gases flow. The particles in the flowing gas are ionized by the discharge electrode, and migrate toward the collector plates as a result of electrostatic attraction, where they are held. Periodically, the collector plates are rapped to shake the accumulated particles from them to a collection bin for disposal. In order for the rapping to be effective in removing accumulated particles, the collector plates must have some degree of freedom for movement.
Over time, the collector plates, which have an extremely large surface area, become bowed or warped. Since the difference in potential between the discharge electrode and the collector plate is dependent on the spacing between them, bowing of the collector plates changes this distance and reduces the efficiency of the precipitator, and in extreme cases may result in arcing if the spacing becomes too small.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,516,992 addresses the problem of bowing or warping of the plate electrodes in a precipitator collecting plate 90 (FIG. 9, present application) by providing a connector 94 that is fixedly mounted to a bar 92 to one end of the collecting plate 90. The plate may be straightened by applying a torque moment to the elongated bar 92 to which the other end of the connector is attached.
FIG. 2 of the '992 patent illustrates the location of exemplary discharge wires 38 and a bowing that changes the distance of the plates to these wires.
The design of the '992 patent may work adequately when a limited symmetrical bow occurs in a precipitator plate, but does little to address complex forms of bowing in multiple dimensions or twisting deformations of the plates which is very common.